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Gripped and Grinning

Submitted by Ryan Krueger on September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

Putting on our pads and helmets at the base area we couldn’t help but feel a little bit like super heroes. Full-face helmets and a full range of pads, “I sure hope we don’t need any of this,” I said, cinching the last Velcro strap. A day filled with lift-accessed mountain biking ahead of us we were a mix of nervous energy and eager anticipation.

Photo by Dave Reuss

Climbing onto the lift for the first ride we were fairly giddy about the entire situation. I’ve been mountain biking plenty of times but rarely have I been able to climb onto a lift and skip the superfluous, lung crushing climbs and go straight to the goods. Not to mention the plush Norco bikes that we picked up at Different Spokes Bike shop at the Big Sky base area that would soak up any and all bumps in the trail and deliver us safely to the bottom. Dave was a first timer on the downhill bike and relatively new to the whole mountain biking scene and was rightfully nervous about the first descent.

Big Sky Resort has trails for all skill levels and at the top we decide to start off easy with a lap down Moose Tracks to warm up. Steadily ramping up the difficulty after each run we became a little less gripped and a little more confident, railing turns and hitting every little air we could find. Before long we were hitting the diamonds and found that they were definitely the better trails as they have seen much more maintenance then the others and were smoother and more thoughtfully crafted all the way through.

At the end of the day we were left wanting more, which is far better then the alternative. Just because the snow is gone in Southwest Montana, doesn’t mean you can’t get a lift-accessed adrenaline rush. Head down to Big Sky Resort for the only lift-accessed biking in the area and some insanely fun riding.